Kubuntu 16.04.01 Install and review

I have been using Ubuntu Gnome for over a year now, and it has been great, there has been some bugs here and there that I could work my way around, but it got really out of hand lately so it was time for a change!Disto hopping

I admit, distro hopping is something I am guilty of; you get to try many distros and interfaces very easily, and it is criticized for being counter productive and a total waste of time and resources, but that's not always the case, it's sometimes you need to take a step back to keep going forward.

Other choices to look at

So I started to look for an alternative that isn’t “Gnome based” and that left me with few options! Many popular interfaces are built on Gnome and I believed that the problems will tag along.Unity isn’t even an option on my list because I don’t like it! I’m glad there is a choice in the open source world, so I decided to try Kubuntu for a change, and to get rid of my issues.

Installing Kubuntu

Interface and user experience

The interface on the other hand is completely different from Gnome, and I instantly remembered Windows because of the menu and the bottom panel, Kubuntu is aimed for an easier user experience, I think they meant it was “a windows like experience”.

It’s even has an Aero peak like feature, when you hover the mouse
over a taskbar program and you see a preview of the program running in a
box.

So far the experience is smooth, but it’s different from all the interfaces I used before, and the default applications are also different from the gnome/unity bunch.

Of
course KDE comes packed with tools that start with “K” like Kedit and
Knote, I’m not ready to give up Zimwiki for example so some of these K
tools had to go!

I have a tip for you: If you copy and paste
terminal commands from web pages, you are going to have to change Gedit
to Kate, so you get your commands up and running :)

The Widgets are interesting and really give a larger scale for customizing.While the software center is a bit, different!

Software and updates

I’m
used to having the software settings and sources in a separate
application than the software center, in Kubuntu they are merged up
together and aren’t exactly easy to find, as if the Kubuntu developers
don’t want you to find the source settings and edit them properly.

The file manager Dolphin

Some of the things I really liked is the Dolphin file manager, it’s much better than Nautilus, the interface is clean and clear, and doesn’t have some of the chronic bugs Nautilus plagued with, it’s also featured packed as it has a double pane and gives a better access to the main controls and preferences.

Slow boot!

One of the main issues I noticed is the slow boot, nearly 10 times what Gnome needed to boot, I managed to fix this problem and you can find the solution here.

Warning

Never install any distro if the Checksum don't match! I did it and I was in for a world of pain, and had to reinstall all the packages from synaptic.

Final verdict

I think Kubuntu and KDE in general is underrated and doesn’t get as much “mainstream attention” as other flavors and interfaces, it is worth a try!It feels really well polished and almost reminds me of Macs OS, I’ve never had or worked one on, but that’s what I think at least.

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